As the first international flight from Manohar International Airport, North Goa takes off today; a report in Hindustan Times indicated that the Chief Minister of Goa has assured to write to the Ministry of Civil Aviation with a request to not shift any more international flights from Dabolim, the old airport to the new one.
The new airport at Mopa in North Goa was inaugurated last year and saw its operations start in January this year. It’s only now that the airport has got approvals to start international operations, with Air India shifting its thrice a week service to London Gatwick from the old to the new and IndiGo announcing thrice weekly flights to Abu Dhabi from September.
The international flights at Goa
Goa is often referred to as the party capital of India, but it also attracts tourists from different parts of the world and is a popular destination for Russians. Currently, Goa is connected to Sharjah (5x weekly by Air Arabia), Dubai (4x weekly by Air India Express), Bahrain (4x weekly by Gulf Air), Muscat (4x weekly by Oman Air), Doha (Daily by Qatar Airways).
Additionally, the airport gets scheduled flights and scheduled charters from Russia, United Kingdom and Kazakhstan. The international traffic at Goa has been steady across the last few years, despite the Russians finding newer and cheaper destinations and domestic tourism increasing due to more resorts, flights and disposable income.
Easy for Indian flag carriers?
There are two aspects to international flights. In most cases, if not all, Indian carriers are free to mount international flights from any airport in India, but for a foreign carrier to add a point in India – requires the airport to be part of “points of call” in the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA).
Oman Air has twice pushed the move to Manohar International Airport, North Goa and it remains to be seen on how the government treats the bilaterals – if they are at par for both airports or needs amendment. This could become a benchmark when Noida International Airport (NIA) opens and would want to attract international flights from IGI, Delhi to NIA. The same would also come into play at Mumbai, when the Navi Mumbai airport opens next year. However, the Mumbai and Navi Mumbai airports are both to be operated by the same group viz. Adani Airports, while IGI, Delhi is operated by Delhi International Airports Limited (DIAL), run by GMR Airports while Zurich Airports has bagged rights for Noida Airport.
Network Thoughts
The Dabolim airport is congested – from terminal to apron and the runway. Dabolim airport belongs to the Indian Navy which has a premier testing facility along with operational assets, which affects operating hours. While the state owned AAI (Airports Authority of India) has done a magnificent job by building a new terminal in limited space a few years ago, any further expansion is not possible.
Cut to MIA, North Goa; potential availability of 24×7 operations, better F&B, Retail and lounges along with investments in technology are all attractive for airlines in the long term. In all probability, the airlines would be getting some interesting short to medium term offers from the airport operator to attract new routes – as has been the norm worldwide in case of private operators.
MIA, North Goa is already connected to more destinations than Dabolim in just five months. Personally, I expect the airport operator to have to invest in expansion much earlier than planned with the airport reaching in current planned capacity in a span of 12 to 14 months, if not earlier.
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